The present invention relates to improved damper assembly for pianos, and more particularly relates to improved mounting construction of damper felts to a damper head.
On a piano, one damper assembly is provided for each key in the keyboard and different damper assemblies for different keys are operable independently of each other upon key operation. In addition, damper assemblies for all keys in the keyboard are simultaneously operable all together upon foot pedal operation, too.
A damper assembly includes, as major elements, a swingable damper lever, a damper wire carried by the damper lever, a damper head mounted atop the damper wire and damper felts disposed to the damper head whilst facing an associated key. When the associated key is left free, the damper felts rest on the string in order to restrict its free vibration.
In the conventional construction, each damper felt is provided in its bottom face with a center longitudinal V-shaped groove for good engagement with the associated string.
As later described in more detail, however, presence of such a bottom groove tends to promote easy buckling, i.e. deformation, of the damper felt after long and repeated use, which causes insufficient damping effect and easy jumping of the damper felt on the string.